I love this winery! The Barrel Room has the prerequisite dim lighting and smells pleasantly of wet oak and wine. Rather than bellying up to the tasting bar, you're escorted to individual tasting stations where you perch on stools surrounding clever tables with wine cask bases. There you are greeted by an employee of the winery, who pours samples of the wines, tells you about what it is you're drinking and answers any questions you may have. You're then left to yourselves to enjoy and discuss and nibble on bread sticks before the next wine is poured. It's a wonderful, far more intimate and informative experience and the people working the tasting room genuinely seem to enjoy the product and their jobs. Did I also mention that the wines are good? Well worth the $15.00 tasting fee in my opinion.
We did a tasting in the barrel room as well as the reserve tasting. Both were a very good experience with good wines and very friendly and knowledgeable staff. We enjoyed every wine that we tasted. There is also a nice outside patio for sitting and tasting. A very nice experience and we'll go here again.
We love living close to Livermore Valley and its 40+ wineries. Steven Kent/La Rochelle wineries are definitely among the best of a great selection and we look forward to continuing as members of their wine club.
This is a pleasant place to taste wine; there is a nice outside patio area (think picnics!) in Livermore. The winery was started in 1996 and it specializes in cabernet.
Recommending a winery is always difficult because you don't know why people are visiting. My husband and I love wine so Steven Kent is an automatic stop from the airport. He makes amazing reds, any varietal. And he does in Livermore Valley what others don't seem to be able to do - make great wine. It is the world's greatest tasting room - well it's better than when we first visited! But if you love wine - this is a short trip to a Napa quality destination. We've tried other wineries in the area, but the wine doesn't compare. So my recommendation is to come here if you like quality wine. Go elsewhere if something else is why you visit wineries.
Nice ambience, standing around individual wine tasting barrel kiosks in a cellar. Better wine than other places, but Livermore Valley doesn't appear to be the best spot for good California wine. Friendly server.
We visited the Steven Kent Winery for a wine tasting. Upon arrival the host was stunned that we did not have reservations and suggested that we sit on the patio which was dusty and barren. About a half hour passed and our host never came so we went back into the winery and were finally given access to the $15 wine tasting. There were four of us and two of us got the Pinot Noir flight and two of us got the Cabernet flight All,tastings were poured with a pre-measured pourer that were VERY small. The wines were largely unimpressive to everyone except for the winery staff. Our hostess was unengaged and distant offering little information about the wine. This was a waste of time and money. Things to know:1- the $15 wines tasting is refundable on $50.00 purchases of wine only. The most expensive bottle on the tasting is $48.00. Therefore, you need to buy two bottles of their wine - very amateur and not so clever on the winery especially when only one of their Pinot Noirs might be worth $48 on a good day. 2- Have a reservation or be sent to the parking lot or barren patio. The winery has managed to create a feeling of being high-end with this reservation thing. Sadly, the Steven Kent wines do not hold up to such a concept.
Steven Kent and La Rochelle are my favorites. Cindy, Tracey and Pam are wonderful! Great patio experience on summer weekends. The tasting room is great because you must be assigned a table so it is not the place for a bus load of power tasters.Best wine!
Friends of our live in the East Bay area and recommended we try tasting the wines at Steven Kent Winery. We were blown away by the quality and ended up joining the club to receive wine periodically to our Michigan home. We are always happy with what we receive!
Love this winery. Easy to get to, off Tesla in Livermore, Ca. What makes this winery special is the variety of wines. Estate grown wines, full bodied Cabs, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Merlot .Several Chardonnay's. My fave are the stellar Pinot's that Steven and the winemaker release from grapes in the best Pinot areas. Santa Lucia Highlands , Russian River and even Oregon. There are many fun events at the winery. They actually have 2 tasting room experiences. Cave and another building that offers table tasting. Also a premier tasting in the cave at a table for about 12. Things change a lot at this winery, tastings and how they do them. And a bonus during the summer, tasting outside with music and food. Good club! Go, you'll thinkyou're in a bit of Napa, Sonoma area.